The House That Jack Built
Print
September 1809 (published)
September 1809 (published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Print entitled The House that Jack Built. Published in London by Walker in September 1809.
After the destruction of the Covent Garden Theatre by fire in December 1808 and its rebuilding in 1809, John Philip Kemble, the manager of the theatre, raised the price of tickets to compensate for the cost of the theatre's reconstruction. This and the creation of privately hired theatre boxes caused riots, known as the Old Price Riots, that lasted three months and ultimately forced Kemble to reduce the number of private boxes and restore the 'old prices'. This print, parodying the nursery rhyme This is the House that Jack Built, is a satire on the riots. The Cat is Italian soprano Angelica Catalani who had been engaged for a substantal fee, leading to complaints that prices had been increased in order to pay for her.
After the destruction of the Covent Garden Theatre by fire in December 1808 and its rebuilding in 1809, John Philip Kemble, the manager of the theatre, raised the price of tickets to compensate for the cost of the theatre's reconstruction. This and the creation of privately hired theatre boxes caused riots, known as the Old Price Riots, that lasted three months and ultimately forced Kemble to reduce the number of private boxes and restore the 'old prices'. This print, parodying the nursery rhyme This is the House that Jack Built, is a satire on the riots. The Cat is Italian soprano Angelica Catalani who had been engaged for a substantal fee, leading to complaints that prices had been increased in order to pay for her.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The House That Jack Built (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Hand coloured etching, ink and wash on paper |
| Brief description | Print entitled 'The House that Jack Built'. Published in London by Walker in September 1809 |
| Physical description | Etched and hand coloured print entitled 'The House that Jack Built', showing seven images in two rows, three in the upper row, four in the lower, each with a parody of the nursery rhyme 'This is the house that Jack built. Top, from left, the front of Covent Garden Theatre, the theatre boxes for the 'great', and the 'Pigeon holes made for the poor'; and bottom, from left,' the Cat' (Angelica Catalani), 'John Bull' (representing the outraged British public), the 'Thief taker' (Constable Townsend) , and the Manager (John Philip Kemble). An ink annotation on the line above Catalani has been crossed out. Mounted. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Gabrielle Enthoven Collection |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Print entitled The House that Jack Built. Published in London by Walker in September 1809. After the destruction of the Covent Garden Theatre by fire in December 1808 and its rebuilding in 1809, John Philip Kemble, the manager of the theatre, raised the price of tickets to compensate for the cost of the theatre's reconstruction. This and the creation of privately hired theatre boxes caused riots, known as the Old Price Riots, that lasted three months and ultimately forced Kemble to reduce the number of private boxes and restore the 'old prices'. This print, parodying the nursery rhyme This is the House that Jack Built, is a satire on the riots. The Cat is Italian soprano Angelica Catalani who had been engaged for a substantal fee, leading to complaints that prices had been increased in order to pay for her. |
| Associated objects |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.45-1987 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2016 |
| Record URL |
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